Mayor Michael B. Coleman might have been adamant that he’s not out to take over the Columbus City Schools, but it’s clear, at least for now, that he is going to play a big role in the district’s future.

It’s a badly kept secret that many at City Hall these days fear that school-district officials and the Columbus Board of Education don’t grasp the damage the district could face after all of the investigations into accusations of student-data scrubbing and grade-changing are complete.

Coleman is one of them, and he was clearly taken aback two weeks ago by the school board’s unwillingness to cooperate with his education commission’s review of the district’s administrative operations. The mayor scolded the board publicly for “circling the wagons” instead of working with his commission.

Apparently, he wasn’t done with the matter.

Last week, the board agreed to the review without any clearer explanation of what it will entail. The reversal was a clear signal that Coleman will play a key role in the district’s future.

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This time, it’s her turn.

Olivia Thorp, chief deputy in the legal division of the Licking County Common Pleas Clerk of Courts office and the wife of Licking County Sheriff Randy Thorp, announced last week that she’s running for clerk of the county’s Municipal Court.

Last year, her husband handily won re-election despite stirring a bit of controversy for retiring in April to receive his pension benefits. (It helped, of course, that he didn’t have any competition in the general election.)

The Thorp candidate won’t have it quite so easy this time. The day after Mrs. Thorp, a Republican, filed her petitions with the county board of elections, incumbent Marcia J. Phelps said she’ll be in the race as well.

Phelps, a Democrat, is a longtime Licking County politician, having served as both a Newark city councilwoman and a Licking County commissioner — the first woman to hold the latter job.

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A rather routine board of directors meeting for the Child Advocacy Center of Fairfield County took a happy turn last week when two local philanthropists learned that the center is being renamed in their honor.

The center will become the Harcum House, a show of appreciation for the longtime contributions of Violet Township residents David and June Harcum.

The Child Advocacy Center opened in Lancaster in 2007, in part because of help from the couple’s charitable Abuse Prevention Fund.

Mrs. Harcum, 80, still holds a seat on the center’s board, so she and her husband, who is 83, attended the meeting. They had no idea the name change was coming.

The center is dedicated to helping investigate and prosecute child abuse and is modeled after the child-advocacy center at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus.